Surveillance video shows a man wearing a striped shirt and baseball cap walking right up to the passenger door of the silver Acura SUV, and opening up the door with ease.
But there’s one problem – he is not the owner!
It’s a new crime tool in the form of an unknown handheld device – that harnesses a new technology.
A signal is wirelessly sent to the vehicle – and remotely triggers the ‘door unlock’ feature — mimicking the owner’s factory key fob.
The criminals steal, in this case in Long Beach, California, whatever they can find – cash, cell phones – anything of value and law enforcement is still trying to figure out exactly how it’s being done.
We showed the surveillance video to Brett Bavasso – who owns the auto performance and accessory shop “Speed World” on Queens Boulevard in Woodside, Queens.
But Bavasso says there are ways – in the form of aftermarket mobile security solutions that will help you avoid being introduced to the latest form of criminal keyless entry.
“The thing is, with those guys – they’re not actually breaking anything – or really getting into it that way. So what I would suggest for a situation like that, is put a proximity sensor in the car. “if you look at that video, it looks like they have to come right up to the door. Now if you have that proximity sensor, it will secure the care within a couple of feet. And you can adjust that radius also. Which is pretty cool”, Bavasso told Pix11.
Bavasso says ultimately – consumers might have to rely on technology to catch up with criminals before the cops do.
Watch it at: http://landing.newsinc.com/wpix/video.html?freewheel=91044&sitesection=wpix_nationworld&VID=24865393